Tribune And DirecTV Reach Carriage Deal

DirecTV says the agreement to carry Tribune’s 23 TV stations and WGN America runs for five years, but it won’t disclose financial terms. “It’s unfortunate that Tribune was willing to hold our customers hostage in an attempt to extract excessive rates, but in the end we reached a fair deal at market rates similar to what we originally agreed to on March 29,” DirecTV EVP Derek Chang says. Here’s Tribune’s statement:

CHICAGO, Apr. 4, 2012—Tribune Broadcasting announced this evening that it has reached an agreement with DirecTV that will enable DirecTV subscribers to avoid any further disruption in service and to once again enjoy Tribune’s 23 local television stations as well as WGN America, Tribune’s national cable network.

“We are extremely pleased to have reached an agreement with DirecTV and to return our valuable news, entertainment and sports programming to DirecTV subscribers,” said Nils Larsen, Tribune Broadcasting president. “On behalf of Tribune Broadcasting, I want to thank viewers across all of our markets for their support, understanding and patience during the negotiating process—we truly regret the service interruptions of the last several days.”

The agreement comes as baseball season is about to open, and enables DirecTV subscribers to see Chicago Cubs and White Sox baseball on WGN-TV in Chicago and on WGN America, as well as the Mets on WPIX-TV in New York, Phillies baseball on PHL17 in Philadelphia, and the Washington Nationals on WDCW-TV in Washington, D.C.

DirecTV subscribers also will again have access to the more than 700 hours of local news, weather, traffic, and sports coverage produced by Tribune’s local television stations, as well as prime-time entertainment programming like “American Idol,” “Glee,” and “New Girl,” on the company’s Fox affiliates, and “One Tree Hill,” “Vampire Diaries,” and “Gossip Girl” on its CW affiliates.